Zealots

Zealots , Jewish faction traced back to the revolt of the Maccabees (2d cent. BC). The name was first recorded by the Jewish historian Josephus as a designation for the Jewish resistance fighters of the war of AD 66-73. This term applied to them because of their fervent veneration of the Torah and detestation of non-Jews and Jews lacking in religious fervor. The Zealots were organized as a party during the reign (37 BC-4 BC) of Herod the Great, whose idolatrous practices they resisted. Later (c.AD 6), when Cyrenius, the Roman governor of Syria, attempted to take a census, the Zealots, under Judas of Galilee and the priest Zadok, arose in revolt against what they considered a plot to subjugate the Jews. Thereafter the Zealots expressed their opposition by sporadic revolts and by violence against Jews who conformed to Roman ways. The Zealots played a role in the unsuccessful revolt in which the Temple was destroyed (AD 70) by the Romans. The Zealot garrison at Masada, a mountaintop fortress near the Dead Sea, was captured by the Romans only after its 900 defenders had committed mass suicide (AD 73) rather than be captured.

Zealots Jewish sect, active in opposition to Roman rule at the time of Jesus Christ and after. They refused to agree that Jews could be ruled by pagans, led resistance to the Roman census of ad 6, pursued a terrorist campaign, and played an important role in the rising of ad 66. Their activities continued into the 2nd century.

Zealots. A Jewish party of revolt. According to Josephus they were one of the factions which inspired the fanatical resistance to the Romans in Jerusalem which led to its destruction in AD 70. They have commonly been identified with (1) the followers of Judas of Gamala who led a revolt in AD 6, and (2) the Sicarii, who refused to surrender to the Romans at Masada. There is, however, doubt about these identifications. The epithet ‘zealot’ applied to St Simon ‘the Less’ in Lk. 6:15 may mean that he belonged to the Zealot party, or may describe his character.